With the start of university, I embarked on my expat journey. I left my childhood home in Luxembourg for the Netherlands to study Public Health. Highly motivated, big-visioned and passionate about my studies, I then moved to Munich to start my first job in academia. Quite some disappointments awaited me there as I found myself stuck in some old-fashioned, toxic and tunnel-visioned workplace. I changed research groups, but somehow the passion and spark for what I was doing had been lost.
The struggles of expat life, an admin-heavy research world, a strenuous job market and aftereffects of a traumatic family event eventually led me into anxiety and depression. I felt lost, I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I was confused and convinced, some physical illness must be the cause of my chronic fatigue, palpitations and never-ending flus.
Desperate by the lack of diagnosis for a physical ailment (which in fact was great of course!), I sought elsewhere and found comfort in yoga. I had tried yoga several times but I never liked it, too slow, too boring. That was until I realized that there is more to yoga than just physical exercise. The yogic philosophy was refreshingly irrational, soothing my rational researcher’s mind and was teaching me to trust. To trust my body, and life.
Hence, I did my Yoga Teacher Training besides my PhD and couldn’t let go of this idea what is now salty jade. I aim to share in salty jade some of my life lessons learned. I hope to build a community in this way, in which people inspire and support each other.
Origin of the name in short:
salty = ocean & down-to-earth
jade = plant & gemstone
It is as simple as that. No juicy story behind the name.
Or actually yes … a succulent story.